Weak Hot Rolled Sheet Price in Tokyo

Hot rolled flat steel market price is weak at 68,000-69,000 yen per tonne for base size at selling price by coil centers in Tokyo due to lower demand. The distributors’ profitability gets worse when some dealers sell at lower price though most of the dealers try to keep the reselling price with pressure by makers. The coil centers’ shipment decreased by 6.9% to 1.513 million tonnes in April from March, according to the national association. The distributors feel the demand decreases though the demand tends to decrease seasonally during the period. The mood gets worse when domestic sheet steel inventory increased to 4.07 million tonnes at the end of April. The sheet steel demand keeps firm for automobile and appliances totally and domestic integrated steel makers keep high level operation. However, the demand is slow for distributors’ market. The dealers cannot find the chance to increase the reselling price for better profitability under the slow market. The supply balance is expected to keep the condition when Chinese export with new export tariff could have little impact on Japanese market. Japanese integrated steels eye additional price hike when the market price is lower than international level.